The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-05-28

rreiinghuysen quotes approVlngly the re
port Of Consul Lathrop Of England, who
SAYS:
Firs.-"No class of laborer Is as In
telligent as the corresponding class In the
United States"
Second-"ln consequence of this the
laborer here Is not so valuable TO his EN-,
ployer as In the United States, He is less
receptive and retentve of ideas, requires
more oversight and direction, and accom-.
plishes less In day"
The census of 1880 shows that the aver.
age production per hand of all the labor
employed in manufacturing In the United
States was $l,c60, while the average pro.
duction OF English workmen was only $3.50
per head. Now, though the American la.
borer receives % per cent more, he pro-
duces over 100 per cent more, than the En-.
glish laborer, and the higher priced is the
cheaper labor to the employer The Ger.
man produces still less, and, of course, re.
csices less for Product, not tariff, is::the law
Of wages.
| am a manufacturer, pay my labor Sl,25
per day, and obtain 81 90 per hand product,
You are competing manufacturer pay
your labor $500 per day, and receive 800
per hand product. Which, if either, should
be protected against the other? Your labor,
though highest paid, is cheapest could
not compete with you, because the compe-
tition is not In the labor market, but in the
goods market The average amount paid
In the United States for manufacturing in
1880 was S346 per hand. The average in
England was $273. The American laborer,
therefore, returned 10 his employer S. G6
for each dollar paid in wages. The English
laborer returned to his employer but 81 50
for each dollar paid in wages. These facts
show conclusively that ours is the cheaper
labor, and they are not open to dispute
There Is no question about them. Both
governments pay millions per annum for
these labor statistics. Froth can moi OBJ
scure them, nor misrepresentation wipe
them out
Mr.. Secretary Frelinghuysen, when re-
ferring to the report of the Consul-General
at London, in speaking OF the slowness
with which the workmen of London work,
says: This is as much as can be said of
any class of workmen of Europe. They
work slow, adds the Consul. General-.td
slocer than American artisans, but rather
from custom than laziness. 1t is what the
Consul. General calls the national working
pace, as every country has its national
working pace as we'll defined as any other
characteristic" All authorities converge
to the one point, that, though America is
the highest wage paying nation, its labor is
the cheapest of earth.
James NJ. Swank, the Secretary of the
American Iron and Steel Association, an
extreme and notorious protectionist, was
made the special agent to report upon the
iron and steel industry of the United States
for the 10th census. From first to last his
report is shaded by his sentiments. He adj
mits, however, the greater energy OF Amer
lean labor,-shows that 1t Is vastly more
productive than English, and in support of
this position quotes approvingly English
authorities themselves. He says: Eng
lish technical journals frankly confess the
superior skill and mechanical enterprise
displayed in the management of the iron
al ~ A ITpitai Stutns ~ In
saws: "On the It'll of January, 1881, the
Enquirer of London said: The United
States iron masters are beating us by 100
per cent in the output from their plant
With one pair of converters they can do as
much as, and more than, we cant do with
two pairs; and while our blast furnaces
turn out 1870 tons of pig per week, theirs,
much smaller give as much as 100 tons
week. In the rail mills, and bar and sheet
mills, matters are in much the same copdl
ton, &c, &c. SO, also, he quotes iron,
paper of London, in proof that tools i'm
ported into England from America, made
of American iron and steel, are far super
ior to any other, and at the same time,
'.while remarkable for quality and finish,
are much less costly than those of English
production" &C., &c. And pages of his
report are devoted to proof of tue correct
ness of these declarations. Last year we
exported of the finer grades of iron and
steel machinery, cutlery, tools, saws, hinges,
locks, ire engines, firearms, printing
presses, scales, balances, &c, &c articles,
twenty nine thirteths of the cost of which
was American labor, over $l5,OOO,OOO
worth; and Mr.. Trimble himself admits
that we were enabled to export this and
compete with other nations, In the open
market because we produced them cheaper
than other. But how cheaper, unless Amer
lean labor is cheaper? Again. showing that
in goods, the principal part of the cost OF
which Is labor, we are not "confrcnted by
overwhelming odds in the scale of wages
abroad"-that intelligent manufacturers OF
such goods do not "humbly acknowledge
they cannot proceed to business without
protection" but, on the contrary, many can
not proceed to business because of protec
tion,-they say they cannot manufacture
for the world because, with the exception
of labor, their finished article bears In It's
cost an accumulated tariff taxation; that
because of our tariff, our only advantage
in manufacturing over other nations, Is the
single item of energetic, productive, ana
therefore cheap American labor. Thus, D,
B. Sargent, of New Haven, Conn, the
larges. manufacturer of cutlery In the
United States, says that the only lmpedi-
nnt1arv for the